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THE SECRET OF POWER

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 28, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 42.

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THE SECRET OF POWER.

By Eliza H. Morton

BY ELIZA H. MORTON.
WE read in God’s own book of light and life, Of how, when man lost all his glory here, One came to earth and took his place and lived Without the touch of sin, and living bore The sins of man, and died that he might live. O wondrous love! O Christ the crucified!
O ye that live this mortal life, know ye The power that may be thine? Know ye the place,— The secret place of power? Ah, Jesus died To give you strength! His strength may now be all Your own. Your possibilities are great: You may receive into your heart a Guest, A heavenly One, the Prince of Peace to dwell, To live a life far nobler than your own. The brightest visions and the brightest dreams Are but as shadows to the sun before This wondrous thing the Lord would work in you.
Your work is but to let the Saviour work in you By faith. Oh, let him do his will! All Heaven Is ready now to reach down hands of love, To compass you about with armies strong, To give you power to move the hearts of men. Believe and waver not, though tried by fire. The bud bursts not at once into a flower; The tiny brook must onward flow before It widens to a stream,—so grow in grace, And let your faith increase as trials met And overcome in Jesus’ name give songs Of praise, and day by day you see and feel And know that Christ the Lord will give just what His Spirit leads you to implore. O life Of faith, how broad, how grand, how full, how free!
No marble walls of chilly tombs to check The aspirations of the soul, but waves Of liberty, a place of peace and love, A place where angels camp and God himself Is pleased to dwell—this is the life of faith.
Believe and live, aye, nobly live. That life Is low which has not heaven in view, and lives For self. That life is true which looks afar Adown the vistas of the coming years, And sees by faith a throng of holy ones, Aye, sees the fruit of well-directed toil. The sheaves are thine. God’s word is true. The seed Will grow, and faith may grasp a sweeter thing Than even future joy. No need to wait For long, long years to pass before we know The fullness of God’s love. This day, e'en now, We may take hold of strength divine and feel The Spirit in its power, and thus go forth With armor clad, like knights of old, to fight Far greater battles than were ever fought By warriors fierce in other days. Our God Is strong. That strength have we if we have faith.